Zorro (novel)
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 1st edition cover |
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| Author | Isabel Allende |
|---|---|
| Original title | El Zorro |
| Translator | Margaret Sayers Peden |
| Country | Chile |
| Language | Spanish |
| Series | Zorro |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, Historical Novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Released | May 1, 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) and (audio-CD) |
| Pages | 400 p |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-06-077897-0 |
Zorro is a 2005 mock biography and the first origin story of the pulp hero Zorro, written by left-wing Chilean author Isabel Allende. It is a prequel to the events of the original Zorro story, Johnston McCulley's 1919 novella The Curse of Capistrano. It also contains numerous references to earlier Zorro-related works, especially the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro.
The novel weaves famous historical figures into the story but also contains a few instances of magic, which has led some critics to place it in the realm of magical realism. It is also a retcon, notably because it changes Zorro's ethnicity from Spanish to mestizo.
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[edit] Synopsis
According to Allende's story, the future Zorro was a mestizo born in the 1790s in Alta California, son of the Asturian Captain Don Alejandro de la Vega and a native woman warrior, Toypurnia. The young Diego is sent to Barcelona by his father to complete his education, shortly before the French Army of Napoleon Bonaparte invades Spain.
In the occupied Barcelona of early 1810s, Diego de la Vega discovers his first love and becomes a fighter against foreign oppression. His travels also enable him to learn much of the characteristic Zorro-like skills: acrobatics from swinging on ship masts, fencing from the Spanish master Manuel Escalante, various tricks from Gypsies and a ship's cook, and a disguise patterned after a swashbuckling pirate.
After the French defeat, De la Vega returns to California, where he decides to continue the fight against the tyranny of his enemy from Spain, pompous Don Rafael Moncada and the landowning nobility—the caballeros—over the people of California. To avoid being recognized, De la Vega assumes the secret identity of Zorro. In his crusade he is helped by his mute servant Bernardo and Tornado, his horse.
[edit] Characters
Allende uses a mix of fictional characters borrowed from earlier Zorro works and invented for the novel, along with a smattering of historical characters.
[edit] Fictional
[edit] Traditional
- Bernado was Diego De La Vega's milk brother, because they were fed from the same breast. Bernado is a native of California and guided by a spirit horse. He appears to be mute to everyone, including Diego, after witnessing his mother raped and murdered; the only exception is that he is not mute with his wife.
- Lolita Pulido, whom Diego will later court in The Curse of Capistrano, appears as a young girl who falls in love with the disguised Zorro without realizing that he is her childhood friend Diego.
[edit] Original
- Lechuza Blanca ("White Owl") is the maternal grandmother of Don Diego de la Vega (Zorro). She is a shaman and the spiritual leader of an insurgent Californian native tribe, As Diego's spiritual mentor, she leads him into the vision quest through which he discovers that the fox (which in Spanish is "Zorro") acts as his totem or guardian spirit. Her daughter Toypurnia is Diego's mother.
- Toypurnia ("Daughter of Wolf") is the mother of Don Diego de la Vega. Her father was Diego Salazar, a Spanish renegade. Her name means "daughter of the wolf," because she was fostered by wolves briefly during her childhood. She had other names, including Grey Wolf and Regina de la Vega. As Regina, his character is a major part of the 2007 serial Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa.
[edit] Historical
- George Sand: The famed French novelist makes an appearance as a young girl in love with Diego.
- Jean Lafitte: Diego and his companions are captured by the notorious French pirate of the Louisiana bayous.
- Marie Laveau : The voodoo queen of New Orleans makes a brief appearance, during the time Diego and his companions spend as "guests" of Jean Lafitte.
[edit] Continuity
Zorro contains numerous explicit references to Zorro works created before but taking place after Allende's tale. Most of the novel seems to correlate with most of the original Zorro tales. It even mentions Esperanza, Diego's wife in The Mask of Zorro. On the other hand, the epilogue states that Diego lived a comfortable old age after Esperanza's death, which Mask clearly contradicts. Also, Lolita Pulido meets Zorro well before their previously-established first encounter.
In McCulley's work, Diego de la Vega was born in 1782 to a Spanish mother named Chiquita de la Cruz. Sometime after her death, the young man left California and was educated in Madrid, before returning to don the Zorro mask.[1]
A young adult novel, Young Zorro: The Iron Brand, was published coincident to Allende's novel. It was written by young adult author and illustrator Jan Adkins, a technical advisor for Allende's story. It is the story of how Spanish California, pueblo de los Angeles, and the vaquero heritage at the beginning of the 19th century shaped fifteen year old Diego de la Vega and his mute brother Bernardo to create their eventual shared identity as el Zorro, advocate and protector of the peons.
| Zorro |
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| Notable Books |
| The Curse of Capistrano | Zorro |
| Notable Films |
| Douglas Fairbanks: The Mark of Zorro | Don Q, Son of Zorro |
| Robert Livingstone: The Bold Caballero |
| John Carroll: Zorro Rides Again |
| Reed Hadley: Zorro's Fighting Legion |
| Tyrone Power: The Mark of Zorro |
| Linda Stirling: Zorro's Black Whip |
| George Turner: Son of Zorro |
| Clayton Moore: Ghost of Zorro |
| Guy Williams: Zorro, the Avenger | The Sign of Zorro |
| Rodolfo de Anda: La Gran Aventura Del Zorro |
| Frank Langella: The Mark of Zorro |
| Alain Delon: Zorro |
| George Hamilton: Zorro, The Gay Blade |
| Anthony Hopkins / Antonio Banderas: The Mask of Zorro |
| Antonio Banderas: The Legend of Zorro |
| Television |
| "Zorro" | "The New Adventures of Zorro" | "Zorro and Son" | "Zorro" | "The Legend of Zorro" | "The New Adventures of Zorro" | Zorro: La Espada y La Rosa |"Zorro: Generation Z" |
| Notable Stage Productions |
| "Zorro in Hell" [2] | "Untitled Zorro Musical" [3] |
